Miller announces candidacy for Sheriff

Richard T. Miller is announcing his candidacy for Clare County Sheriff on the Republican ticket. Richard Miller, “Rick”, was born and raised in the village of Farwell, and has been a lifelong resident of the community. He is a 1973 graduate of Farwell High School. Upon graduation, he went directly into banking at the Farwell State Saving Bank.

In 1975, Rick received a call from Sheriff Raymond Lippold asking if he would like to work at the sheriff department. Rick’s lifelong dream had always been to work in the law enforcement field. Lippold said he noticed the volunteer work Rick was doing in Clare with the police auxiliary.

Rick worked as a jailer, a dispatcher and was then given the opportunity to become a certified police officer. He also attended the Michigan State Police Training Academy.

Throughout the years, Rick worked through the ranks from deputy to sergeant to lieutenant to undersheriff. He said he has served in just about every command position at the Clare County Sheriff Department from 911 Director, Civil Defense Director, Shift Supervisor and Commander of the Road Patrol. He also served as the Jail Administrator and he attended a correctional command school to update his training for that position.

He was involved in each addition to the jail including the most recent expansion. The housing of inmates from outside counties was instituted to bring in revenue to assist in paying for that expansion

From there, Rick advanced to Patrol Service Commander where his sole purpose was supervising the road patrol sergeants and deputies, maintaining fairness and making sure the citizens’ needs were being served. He also served on several boards representing the sheriff’s department, including the Clare County Gun Board, Central Michigan Community Mental Health and the Medical Control Board. Many times over his career Rick has been asked to be the master of ceremony for community events.

During the current sheriff’s first term, the position of undersheriff became vacant and Rick was appointed to fill the vacancy. Also during this time, the Sheriff’s Department lost a major contract with Statewide Security, which was a major client providing rental income for lodging out-of-county inmates. Rick and the jail administrator made several trips to counties in southern Michigan in attempts to regain contracts for inmate housing. They were able to come up with several contracts.

Over the last few years, Clare County has developed one of the most productive Neighborhood Watch programs in the state of Michigan. Rick organized these watch groups. He took this program under his wing and received over $19,000.00 in donations, spending nights, weekends, holidays, and personal time, to develop this program and help it grow into what it is today.

Rick said he believes it is time to get back to basics and with his experience and knowledge he wants the people of Clare County to know he believes the citizens of Clare County come first. This as the main reason Richard T. Miller is running for Clare County Sheriff.

“We have good people and good officers. We will be working on deprogramming new officers from the academy. Each officer will be treated equal. We will go through an interview process for promotion instead of just promoting whoever is popular.”

He continued, “I believe if you ask anyone that really knows they will tell you I’m fair, honest and really have my heart in it. I refuse to retire after 36 years of hard work with some unfinished business – bringing us to a department we can afford. I believe with the help of the commanders I have known for years, we will work together to make sure we have the best coverage possible without raising taxes.”

Rick has been married for 23 years to his wife, Val, who is employed with the Farwell Area Schools. Rick has two stepchildren and three grandchildren.